Fischer

Albion’s Seed: Four British Folkways in America. By David Hackett Fisher. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989.

It is difficult to discuss the landmark work Albion’s Seed without becoming extravagant in praising it. The book is an example of meta history at its best, not only offering compelling historical arguments but also presenting a sweeping paradigm for understanding America’s colonial origins and its subsequent development. David Hackett Fisher, Brandeis University’s Earl Warren Professor of History, traces the migration of cultures from four distinct regions of the British Isles and explains how each imparted its own distinctive character to the portion of America they made their own.

Fisher identifies four distinct British folkways, defining a “folkway” as “the normative structure of values, customs, and meanings that exist in any culture” (7). Thoroughly dissecting these using 26 different factors ranging from dress and speech to ideas of marriage and child rearing to theology, he characterizes each British subculture and demonstrates its continuation in the part of the colonies that subculture dominated. From Fisher’s descriptions of these four folkways, his thesis begins to take shape to anyone with an adequate knowledge of colonial history, even before Fisher expressly demonstrates the continuation. New England was chiefly settled by Puritans from East Anglia, a region marked by a sturdy and hard-working middle class who excelled at agriculture and a variety of crafts as well as by its socially and politically contentious relationship with the Crown. Virginia’s settlers were primarily indentured servants and “distressed cavaliers” (213) hailing from southern England, an Anglican and Royalist bastion and a region whose landscape since Saxon times was dominated by large manors and estates. To the Delaware River Valley came Quakers from England’s North Midlands, middling farmers who for a millennia had been treated as an “oppressed regional underclass” by Britain’s various conquerors (450). The persecuted Quakers had reached a stage in their society in which they favored tolerance, reason, moderation and political engagement. We associate the colonial backcountry with the Scots-Irish; Fisher

marks it as settled by British “Borderers,” a diverse and mixed group from Scotland, Ireland, and northern England who were relatively poor yet fiercely proud and independent. As church membners they were theological New Lights, as family members clannish, and as Britons historically violent, whether in Britain’s many dynastic struggles or in the practice of reiving (agricultural raiding along the Anglo-Scot border).

Fisher’s evidence is considerable in both quantity and quality. In the use of sources he is equally at home with original manuscripts and secondary works. Particularly impressive is his cataloguing of the 26 folkways he identifies, which include such features as dialect and architecture which so often escape historians’ notice. Perhaps one of the best compliments that can be paid to Fisher is that he makes skillful use of information usually handled by sociologists and anthropologists but delivers it in the prose of well-written history. Albion’s Seed is also profusely illustrated with maps, charts, and contemporary renderings of period images, all of which Fisher handily incorporates. The population maps in particular help make his case for the continuation of specific regional cultures in the colonies.

Albion’s Seed represents an extraordinary framework for understanding early America, yet ironically it represents the reworking of a very old historiographical idea, the “germ theory” which emphasized the continuance of European traditions and ideals in the formation of America. Frederick Jackson Turner famously rejected the germ theory with his frontier thesis, while Fisher in turn uses his paradigm of dominant British subcultures to challenge the frontier thesis. One of Fisher’s most useful contributions is his characterization of differing concepts of freedom as one of the folkways he analyzes. In colonial America each regional culture—New England (ordered liberty), Virginia/ Tidewater South (hegemonic liberty), the Delaware Valley (reciprocal liberty), and the backcountry (natural liberty)—emphasized different visions of liberty but shared jealous guardianship of those liberties.

Among the few flaws in Albion’s Seed is that Fisher succumbs to the temptation of overextending how far his thesis can be stretched in its application to American history as a whole. Fisher is on firm ground when he argues how thoroughly his four British folkways shaped the cultural map of America and that these distinctive cultures have indeed a lasting effect to this day. Fisher however is reluctant to admit the extent to which his paradigm breaks down as America moves chronologically further from the colonial period and experiences new waves of emigration. Perhaps his furthest bridges too far are his discussion of presidential elections (all the way to 1988) and his speculations about differing crime rates from region to region. Fisher briefly discusses non-British cultures’ impact on America, but his colonial coverage arguably gives too short shrift to German émigrés (though he does lump in German Pietists with Pennsylvania’s Quakers).

Fisher’s Albion’s Seed not only offers compelling arguments for the historian to consider but is eminently useful as well. The thesis represents a remarkable paradigm for understanding regional differences in colonial America. That and Fisher’s straightforward characterizations of those colonial regions ensure that an instructor could easily lecture on colonial history with strong reliance on Albion’s Seed. The organization of the book, divided and subdivided as it, makes it significantly useful as a reference work, especially for the scholar concentrating on a particular colonial region. Together, such factors make Albion’s Seed an essential and truly fascinating contribution to American historiography.

Jonathan Steplyk

Albion’s Seed: Four British Folkways in America. By David Hackett Fischer. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989. 898 pages.

In the preface to Albion’s Seed: Four British Folkways in America, Brandeis University historian David Hackett Fischer touts his work as the first in a series that “will hopefully comprise a cultural history of the United States.” (p. vii.) Writing in 1989, Fischer states that five such volumes in that series “are now in draft.” (p. vii.) To date, however, only one other such volume has seen print, namely, Liberty and Freedom: A Visual History of America’s Founding Ideals, published in 2005 as Volume Three in the series even though Volume Two is, purportedly, still “in draft.” Obviously, Fischer’s grand scheme was overly ambitious and ill-conceived. And Albion’s Seed illustrates why the project has sputtered along in fits and starts. Frankly, Fischer should have cut his losses and gone home back in 1989.

But Albion’s Seed is not poorly written. Indeed, Fischer’s lucidity and wit allows the reader to plow through all 898 pages without undue exhaustion. Still, the effect is like watching a lousy football team that wears sharp uniforms, with “at least he writes well” substituting for “at least they look good.”

And Fischer strives mightily to make his thesis that “the legacy of four British folkways in early America remains the most powerful determinant of a voluntary society in the United States today” (p. 7) look good. Combining “the interpretive thrust of the old history with the empiricism of the new” (p. x), he employs a plethora of primary and secondary sources, statistics and anecdotes, to describe in excruciating detail the distinct “folkways” of four “culture hearths” that he claims have dominated American history from colonial times.

The first such “culture hearth” was created by an “exodus of Puritans from the east of England to Massachusetts . . . from 1629 to 1640.” (p. 6.) The second involved “the migration of a small Royalist elite and large numbers of indentured servants from the south of England to Virginia” (p. 6) between 1642 and 1675. The third resulted from a wave of Quaker immigrants “from the North Midlands of England and Wales to the Delaware Valley” (p. 6) between 1675 and 1725. Finally, the fourth “culture hearth” came from “a flow of English-speaking people from the borders of North Britain and northern Ireland to the Appalachian backcountry mostly during the half-century from 1718 to 1775.” (p. 6.)

Besides describing how each of the four groups spoke, dressed, ate, worshipped, had sex, and organized their families and communities, Fischer asserts that they “fostered at least four different ideas of liberty” (p. 897) that together “created a culture of freedom which is more open and expansive than any unitary tradition alone could possibly be.” (p. 898.) Since “American liberty . . . has never been a single idea but a set of different and even contrary traditions in creative tension with one another,” (p. 898), Fischer concludes that the “diversity of libertarian ideas” created by his four “culture hearths” has “become the most powerful determinant of a voluntary society in the United States.” (p. 898.) Specifically, Fischer credits Massachusetts Puritans for their concept of “ordered freedom,” Virginia Cavaliers for their notion of “hegemonic freedom,” Delaware Valley Quakers for “reciprocal freedom,” and “backcountry settlers” for “natural freedom.” (pp. 897-898.)

Fischer’s analysis of these different conceptions of liberty is the most intriguing aspect of his work and yet it gets surprisingly short shrift; “freedom ways” (p. 898) is only one of 24 separate “folkways” that he spends hundreds of pages describing for each of his four groups. Regrettably, the color of the clothes that the Puritans wore and the typical breakfast fare of Quakers shares near-equal time with the weighty ruminations of those groups on human freedom. Surely, Fischer’s contention that Franklin Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms emanated from the Puritans’ belief that “ordered liberty” included the obligation to “to protect individual members [of society] from the tyranny of circumstance” (p. 203) is more interesting and important than Fischer’s claim that the “sad colors” of the Puritans “survive in the official culture of New England” since Harvard’s official color is “a dreary off-purple euphemistically called crimson.” (p. 146.) But Fischer is so hell-bent on demonstrating the “survivals” of his four “culture hearths” that he loses all sense of focus and perspective.

For example, his claim that “every presidential election” in history shows the “persistent power in American politics” (p. 783) of his four pet groups is particularly weak. While Electoral College maps of the last two presidential elections show that regional voting patterns are as strong as ever, the current “Red State/Blue State” divide simply cannot be explained by the “persistent power” of the four “culture hearths” created by the Puritans, Cavaliers, Quakers, and Backwoodsmen of yore.

In sum, by trying to prove too much in Albion’s Seed, Fischer proves very little.

In his work, Albion’s Seed, David Hackett Fischer assumes the monstrous task of determining similarities between customs in various English regions and customs immigrants brought with them upon settling in the “New World.” Fischer’s aim is to demonstrate not only regional migratory patterns, but also bonds tying American culture to England. What results is a massive work that deconstructs colonial society, providing detailed glimpses into English colonies.

Fischer begins by describing the term “folkway.” To Fischer, a folkway is “the normative structure of values, customs, and meanings that exist in any culture” (7). More simply, folkways are aspects of society made whole, or, how a culture speaks, dresses, practices religion, works, plays, etc. To Fischer, four areas of British settlement in North America—Massachusetts, Delaware, Virginia and the Backcountry—share a folkway (or distinct cultural aspects) with four corresponding regions in England, or East Anglia, North Midlands, South England, and the English borderlands, respectively. The four main parts of Fischer’s work describe in detail these folkways.

Fischer begins by describing Massachusetts and its similarities to East Anglia. According to the author, inhabitants of East Anglia largely subscribed to the Puritan faith—a religious way of life Massachusetts’s settlers brought with them to North America. Like the Puritan East Anglicans, inhabitants of Massachusetts dressed in “sadd colours” (purple, tawny, etc.), believed in breaking children’s wills, and structured society around strict codes of behavior (140, 99, 189-96).

Fischer demonstrates similarities as well between the colonial inhabitants of Virginia and South England. The elite men who settled in Virginia tended to be the “second sons” from Southern England who journeyed to America in order to take advantage of free land and potential wealth. These elite sons migrated, as well, due to English political events; namely, the English Civil war resulted in a Puritan commonwealth, and royalist elites escaped to North America. Like Southern Englishmen, inhabitants in Virginia shared social customs such as naming (children were named after warriors), and dress (212-14, 307)

Those migrating to Delaware shared cultural aspects with the English North Midlands. Fischer asserts that both regions tended to be Quaker and rejected the concept that children were born with sin (507). The same kinds of patterns emerge when Fischer compares the backcountry (Appalachian region) to the English borderlands. Speech patterns and other cultural aspects prove similar.

Fischer’s concluding chapter attempts to apply those folkways the author establishes in his previous chapters to post-colonial United States history. For instance, Fischer suggests that the amendment in the Constitution barring established religion resulted from religious diversity within the united colonies—diversity determined by the proposed British folkways (830). Also, Fischer contends that American presidents are culturally tied to England, for the author asserts that most presidents can, in some way, trace their ancestry to the British Isles (834-839).

Fischer’s work provides a plethora of social history, making Albion’s Seed a good resource guide for scholars who wish to study cultural aspects of the English colonies. Nonetheless, Fischer’s primary thesis—or the strong cultural ties between England and the United States—is somewhat problematic. To assert that the primary influence upon American development comes from across the Atlantic Ocean denies the existence of other viable sources of cultural influence present in the United States. Spain, France, and Mexico each influenced various regions of the United States—the former two nations lending civil law to Louisiana and West Florida, and the latter country influencing New Mexico, Arizona, California, and Texas culture. Fischer also fails to mention the Native American influence upon settlers and citizens of the United States—an influence cultivated through trade and, in many cases, proximity.

What Fischer does provide is evidence for colonial settlers who migrated to North America and continued to practice English customs. The author’s suggestion that these decidedly English aspects of society lasted beyond the eighteenth century is weak, and does not explain the diversity present in twentieth century Untied States. By disregarding other sources of cultural development, Fischer, in effect, fails to present a complete study. In result, Fischer’s work is incomplete—a study on part of United States culture rather than an absolute work. In this sense, Fischer’s massive work leaves much to be desired.

Albion's Seed. Four British Folkways in America. By David Hackett Fischer. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989. ISBN 0-19-503794-4. Pp. 946.

Fischer presents the first of a series of cultural histories inspired by the French school of the Annales, which concentrates not about the past but about change. The nineteenth-century explanation for the unique institutions of the United States was one of Teutonic "germs" carried into the North America by German and Anglo-Saxon immigrants (Herbert Adams). The Turner thesis placed the evolution of American free society on the frontier (Billington and Beard). Later immigrants determined that the process of ethnic pluralism evolved from the nature of voluntary immigration (Schlesinger).

Between 1629 and 1775 North America was settled by four great waves of English-speaking immigration. Each group differed in religion, generation, dialect, traditions, folkways, and place of origin. Albion's Seed describes these cultural differences in detail and discusses their importance and influence on American culture and regional history. The attitudes of each group still persist in the regional cultures of the United States. This pluralism served as the foundation upon which the American people build their free society--democratic in politics, capitalist in economy, individualist in society, and pluralistic in culture.

The Puritans' exodus from the East of England began in 1629-1640 under pressure from the monarchist government of Charles I. Over a ten year span 80,000 Puritans left England. Twenty thousand of these settled in New England. The Puritans were upper middle-class artisans, landowners, and professionals from the East Anglican shires of Essex, Suffolk, and Lincoln. They brought their strict religious code of depravity, covenant, election, grace, and love. Their austere and prudish pattern of life evolved into the New England "Yankee." The term Puritan still reverberates in American society. The author delineates the folkways of this group discussing their patterns of food, work, economic, class, religious, marriage, and death.

The second wave of colonization began in the South of England from which the Cavaliers or Royalist migrated with their servants. From 1640-1675, forty to fifty thousand of these aristocratic second sons and their indentured servants fled the political and religious purges of the Cromwellian Puritan governments to the tidewaters of Virginia. Once in the Virginia colony, under the leadership of the royal governor, Sir William Berkeley, they seized control of the government and the choicest lands to establish a planter life style. These conservative Anglicans built their manor houses, wore their elegant clothes, and became a dominate force behind the early Government of the United States.

The third wave of immigration, between 1675 and 1725, was the Quakers or Friends who migrated from the Northern Midlands of England and Wales into the Delaware Valley of Pennsylvania. Over twenty thousands members of the Society of Friends followed their leader, William Penn, into the wilderness of his royal grant to found a new society based on peace and prosperity. Quakers were of more humble origin and brought with them a tolerance for other religions. A love of peace, simplicity, and commerce characterized the Quaker temperament.

Finally, the Scots-Irish flight from Northern Ireland and Scotland resulted from the poverty caused by the restrictions of English trade rules. Between 1717-1775, over fifty percent of the population of some areas immigrated to the New World. Poor, ambitious, desperate, often violent, and always tempestuous the Celts flowed into the ports of Philadelphia, up the Delaware Valley, streamed down the eastern side of the Appalachian Mountains, and trickled across the Cumberland Gap into the Southern states. These two million immigrants stamped their folkways into the Southern culture.

Fischer presents a cultural study of each of these immigrant waves. He analyses the various folkways of each group--marriage rites, naming, family trees, dress, and foods. He takes their place of origin and their religious and social culture to determine how each ingredient contributed to the broth that eventually became the North American stew. The Puritans contributed a prudish outlook and a need to control society. The Cavaliers contributed a conservative resistance to change and a resistance to regal dictates, the Quakers contributed a need to help others and a seeking for peace and tranquility, and tolerance for the religion and beliefs of others. The Scots-Irish contributed their individualism and a resistance to all forms of control. Together we have the give and take, the ambivalence, and balance of the American culture.